I'm in Istanbul right now doing research on hymen reconstruction surgery. The cost, in the low thousands, bears no relation to the complexity or length of the procedure. It's outpatient surgery, done in the office and takes no more than two hours. One gynecologist I spoke to said it was just a matter of putting in a couple of stitches, enough to produce the requisite two drops of blood for the wedding night. This is by no means a Turkish thing – I had drinks with an Iraqi the other night who said it was exactly the same over there.

So although everyone knows about it and almost every gynecologist does it in their private offices, no-one – and I mean no-one – will go on the record about doing it. An Islamic journal describes it as: a potential fraud against the future husband of the woman...and according legitimacy to hymen restoration surgery would result in the dilution of societal sanctions against premarital sex, which in turn would encourage waywardness.

Apparently, you get the procedure done in a state hospital if you've been raped or had an accident that damaged your hymen. Like when you went 'horseback riding' last weekend. So basically if the broken hymen 'wasn't your fault' the state will happily pay to turn you back into a model of female virtue.